So...took the NCLEX today and felt very blah for most of the day. I finished in about 2 hours and was only given 75 questions. Totally not what I expected. I figured that I'd get more than that for sure, especially since the standard was raised for passing standard. I dunno...so I came home and laid around for the whole day for sure. Watched Gilmore Girls, ate Eegees, watched more GG, ate dinner, watched I love you man with my mom and now it's bed time.

It's been such a day. I'm just nervous cause I didn't know the answer to the first question and after that I felt like I wasn't doing well even though I pushed that put of my brain til the exam kicked me off. It's just a weird feeling. I am completely not sure if I was getting passing level questions or failing level questions cause at the end of the day and at the end of Kaplan, they all feel the same to me. Decision Tree or not, they feel all the same to me. I do know however that I was on a roll of either passing or failing cause the computer didn't have to think about what question to give me next, it just gave one to me.

I'm a jumble of mush and I get my unofficial results on Thursday for $7.95 via the internet or I can wait approximately 4 weeks for the AZ BON to declare me "pass/fail". I want to know, but then again, I don't. I'll probably cave and pay the eight bucks to see my "unofficial" results cause I am curious but it could be disappointing. Who flippin knows.

I'm babbling.

I thank Anthony for studying with me, Beck for the card, Jamie for calling me last night and Laura O for calling me today to remind me that I am smart and that it's gonna be good and thanks to all the peeps on FB for the massive encouragement. It really does mean a lot.

Hopefully Thursday brings good news.

♥

Kassie

I take my boards tomorrow...and I actually feel ready. I am not nervous for the test but more so that I am the first person to take it. The good thing about that is, I can go in clear headed and know that no one before me has passed or failed and they did this or that or whatever. The bad thing of that is, people will be asking about the exam. Which truthfully doesn't bother me. I will have only a limited amount of information to give everyone. However, I am happy to share what info I get.

I posted an inspirational message on facebook, to remind myself and to remind everyone else of what we have accomplished. Here it is: To all my nurses taking NCLEX: Don't fret and don't fear. Remember we were trained for the last 2.5/3 years to become nurses and majority of us tookKaplan. Kaplan says if we do all they say we'll pass or our money back. Would they really say that if they were not confident in their program? NO! We are all going to do great. Just remember to breathe and take your time. SI SE PUEDE!!!!!!

I hope this makes everyone (or just Laura) feel better about NCLEX. It helped me remember that it is going to be alright and to help me be confident.

I love you all...and I'll fill you all in at a later date!

♥

Kassie

I just discovered I get heat rashes.

Heat rashes, like the ones babies get that look like mini patches of small white head pimples.

I've never gotten one until last summer and then nothing and now...here it is again.

Still no word on the job front. It's being postponed though until I get my boards out of the way, which is happening on June 15th. Eeeeeeeeek...here's to hoping I pass.

Time to shower and sleep for tomorrow is another day of studying. Bleh.

♥

Updates to my life:
After spring break everything went crazy as my group and I tried to finish up our projects and et ready for graduation. I started to get really upset, especially after everyone got hired at FMC. No one wanted to even consider me for a job cause I'm a new grad and I kept getting rejection after rejection. It truly made me want to cry. Then on that same day, hope came knocking, I got an email from Seton asking me some questions about working and before I knew it I was routed to 3 hospitals and a clinic in Austin. I hope this means good news for me. I hope I get a job in Texas.

For now though, I am home and on some days I love it and others I want to rip my own head off. My family loves each other very much, don't get me wrong, but some days I just want to...well, I'll leave it at that.

I miss everyone from school. I miss Sara and Jamie. I miss all my nursing girls. I just miss school in general. Not the learning part, but the independence part. I really struggle with the whole "being an independent adult" bit when I am home.

Back to cleaning and packing my life away. I have so much stuff and I'm not quite sure what to do with it all. Studying starts Monday. Here's to passing my NCLEX!

Toodles,

Kassie

My life be like...

So today is the first "official" day of spring break...I happen to be spending it at my kitchen table in Tucson waiting for UMC to quit sucking at life and post their new grad applications like they said they would. I hate that they said one thing and definitely another thing is going on. I really want a job and since this is pretty close to a guarentee cause it's for NEW GRADS, I really want those positions to be on line...like NOW!

I might go lay in the sun in my backyard. It's 66 degrees out right now and the sun is beating down on the grass and it's calling my name. I am hoping to gather some color this break before I head back to the cold and snow in Flagstaff on Thursday...or Friday. Not completely sure which day I want to leave yet.

Whatever sickness I had is going away now. I think I caught a virus and ended up with a sinus infection, at least that's what the MD told me at Fronske. Since my symptoms did not improve on Sunday, I started my Amoxicillin 875. Holy eff they are the biggest pills I have ever taken.

I think I have word vomited enough for today.

Toodles
Kassie

Would you know my name, if I saw you in heaven...

I just found out, about 20 minutes ago, that a friend of mine from a long time back was shot and killed in October of last year. We hadn't talked in a long time, about two years and tonight I was just thinking about him and wanted to see how he was doing and how his wife and kids were and as I'm looking at his myspace I see his sister's, wife's and mom's myspace names all say RIP Zach. It took me a bit of rambling around to figure out what happened and when but when I finally found it, sadness just overwhelmed me. It's just shocking to know that anyone you lose touch with could be gone in an instant.

Zach,
I know we weren't the best of friends and I know we lost touch over the years but know that you were a really great friend to me. I will always cherish the friendship we had and all the memories that come with it. Camp Adventure will always hold a special place in my heart thanks to you.
You will be missed.

So this week was definitely better...thus far.
So we had this cute little old man who only spoke spanish in 17 and everytime I went into his room I'd say (please note: my spanish is not great which means my spelling is not great either) "buenos noches, tienes dolor?" and he would start saying something and then point to his head. I gathered headache and said "pastieas que dolor?" and he always said no. So it's around 0530 on Thursday morning and I was getting most recent vitals for report to let the on coming nurse know if my patients were stable or not. Got my first set from 19 and then went to go see my old friend in 17 but his most recent were ar 2200 and I didn't think that would be accurate enough for report so I stopped the PCT and told her I wanted vitals before he went for a shower and then onto his procedure. Everything was within normal limits for an adult until I got to his blood pressure and it was like 220/98 but I thought I heard wrong so I checked again and got 200/90. I asked the PCT to wait on the shower and please double check the pressure because his pressure was really high and I wanted to make doubley sure cause we do manual pressures. She confirmed and I ran to get my nurse, explained the situation and since she was helping our new admit get to her procedure, I traded her places and got the new admit cleaned up and off to her procedure.

YAY I DID SOMETHING RIGHT!!! finally...=]
I was actually really proud that I caught that and the only reason I caught it was cause I wanted a more recent set of vitals. GO ME! It didn't dawn on me til later though that a headache could mean high blood pressure until I got home and had a headache myself and had my "ah-ha" moment.

After we got off shift, I went to breakfast at Mosaic Cafe with Rhoda (my nurse), Judy, Ramona, Sarah, Shirley and a day shift nurse who I had never met before. It was a great ending to a great catch for me.

Work tomorrow night, number 7...1/2 way done! YAY!